


The Will to Live

by Mishiin



Category: Green Lantern: The Animated Series
Genre: F/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 07:26:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10531713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mishiin/pseuds/Mishiin
Summary: A girl awakens in a strange green world with a large majestic green whale and no memory of who or what she is. Why is she here and who is this strange mighty creature? And why does it feel like she is forgetting something? Something very important.A one-shot of what might have happened to Aya after the events of GL: TAS episode 26 "Dark Matter".





	

Green.

 

An overwhelming amount of green.

 

That is all there was. A blinding green light that dwarfed all swirled around her. 

 

Though it was dazzling and filled her with a strange energy she thought that maybe some other color would be nice to break up all this verdant light.

 

But what other colors were there? All she could fathom was green.

 

“Oh, you’re finally awake. Took you a long time.”

 

Her eyes fluttered open. She didn’t even realize they were closed. The green appeared to be ever-present even behind her eyelids.

 

There in this sea of green with her, she was intrigued to see a large being of aquatic nature judging by the four large protruding pectoral fins that fanned out from its lithe body. She had the feeling that perhaps she should be alarmed but she could not detect any danger from this strange creature. It was just as green and vibrant as her surroundings.

 

“Where am I?” She questioned aloud, tilting her head. Her voice sounded odd, echoing and muffled all at once in her head.

 

“Where do you think you are?” The creature replied. The clicking reverberation that came from its massive maw were deep and almost musical. Yet, she could interpret it as words.

 

“I-” She paused. She tried to access any kind of memory or hint that would give her the answer to this question but everything came up blank.

 

“I don’t remember.”

 

“Hmmm well, I suppose that is only natural. You certainly tried to wipe everything clean.”

 

She blinked in mild confusion.

 

“Well, let us start with this. Do you recall your name?” 

 

A name? Of course. Most living beings had some kind of name so it only followed that she did too. But what was it?

 

“I do not.”

 

“Well, that is a shame. It was a pretty name.”

 

_“Aya is a pretty name. A pretty name for a pretty girl.”_

 

Blue eyes go wide.

 

“Aya,” she says testing the syllables aloud. “My name was Aya.”

 

The fish regarded her with jade eyes.

 

“Why do you say “was”, Aya?”

 

“Judging from my current location, lack of information, and present company…” She looks down at her own hands. They’re green just like everything else here. “I can only assume that I have ceased to exist and that this is the world beyond the one I was previously in.”

 

Though it is faint, fuzzy and pixelated in her head, Aya can recall this other world. A vast universe of many kinds of life and worlds. A world of many colors and shades. A world of harmony and conflict. A world of… emotion.

 

A flicker of memories flutter through her. Greens and reds and pinks and blues. A man in a green mask who spoke kindly and taught her things she didn’t understand. A large creature with red eyes who protected her. A man with dark facial markings that spoke softly and affectionately with her. She feels a strange pressure in her sternum for some reason.

 

“Oh,” she says simply, somewhat surprised by the feeling before clearing her head. “Can you tell me why I have died?”

 

“I believe it is best you remember that for yourself. In the meantime, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you like.”

 

Aya ponders what she could possibly do here in this green void but she nodded.

 

“Social expectations, I believe, tell me that I should ask for your name, strange being.”

 

“I have many names and many forms throughout history,” the creature said sagely, as though a large burden came with the weight of that history. “But you may call me Ion.”

 

* * *

 

There was no concept of time in this place. Nor of space as she could swim through the luminescent world endlessly and never be anywhere different. Aya was, naturally, bored. The great green fish was thus the only other thing of interest and she often chatted and asked questions of it.

 

He was kind enough and seemed happy to have someone else to talk to as well.

 

“Ion,” she asked eventually. “I have recalled more things and I am confused. Why have I ended up here? In this place?”

 

“It would only be natural to return to the place from where you came isn’t it?”

 

Aya blinked. “I come from here?”

 

“Not quite. The mortals that inhabit the world beyond this one created you. In the process, they used a part of me, a spark of life and will to create you. They didn’t ask me for permission but that Guardians prefer to forget I exist I think.”

 

“I was created from you?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Aya ponders this for a moment, unsure of what this means for her. The answer is somewhere on the edge of her memories but she can’t grasp it.

 

“Do you intend to assimilate me back into you?”

 

Somehow the creature manages an incredulous look, a single thick bald brow arching up on his narrow head.

 

“Is that what you want?”

 

“I have a choice?”

 

“Of course you do. Though you were taken from my power you are not merely a piece of me. You had experiences that I never had. Feelings. I have no right to take your life no matter your origins.”

 

“I see.”

 

Aya wasn’t sure she did but it sounded right.

 

* * *

 

 

Memories came faster now. She would often lie on her back and float through the green void to try and recall things. The figure of a broad-shouldered man, human, talking with her, scolding her, congratulating her. She knew now that he was the one that named her Aya. She wondered if perhaps he was her father, her creator, but then the memory continues and Aya bolts up from her relaxed state.

 

_“A.I. does not spell Aya it spells A-eeeee.”_

 

_“It's a robot. It’s not able to learn or grow or feel pain.”_

_“Just a machine.”_

 

“I am… was a robot.” She says, her monotone voice cracking. The space in her chest becomes heavy. Painful. The memories of death, Manhunters, the Anti-Monitor, destruction of planets brings to her knees, clutching her chest as though struck with a blade.

_“I could never love you.”_

 

“I…” She says, voice thick with emotion. “I did so many horrible things. I was… a threat to everything.” She looks up at the great fish, wetness sliding down her cheeks. “I destroyed myself. The virus was supposed to delete every version of me. Why then am I here?”

 

Ion’s booming voice echoes around her.

 

“A computer virus is just that. It only destroys machines. It is not capable of destroying you, a living being. Your soul is no more capable of being deleted by it than flesh and blood is.”

 

Aya sobs and tears fall freely from her cheeks. Emotions. Deep and complicated and difficult to understand. Painful. 

 

_“Aya.”_

She hiccups. And yet… The man that so easily dismissed her feelings becomes clear in her mind. Aya can recall the gentle hands that held her as if she were delicate and something to be protected. The earnest whisper of “I love you” that he finally said to her. To Aya. Not just a mere machine.

 

“Razer,” she murmurs thickly, mouth curving up slightly. Amongst the pain in her chest, she feels a lightness, buoyant though her anguish.

 

Emotions were not _all_ painful. There were several times in which her body of wires and metal felt joy, pride, and embarrassment. When Hal congratulated her on infiltrating the Lighthouse. When Razer offered her the blue flower. When Kilowog would come in for a big bear bug.

 

She recalled all of it.

 

“Emotions are complicated are they not?” The great fish said. “But that is the nature of life. It is by no means easy… but the things worth living for rarely are.”

 

Aya wipes at her tears and nods.

 

“Now that you recall who you are, what you are… What do you want Aya? What is it that you desire?”

 

Aya stares up at Ion, awash with a dozen different feelings and memories. What does she desire? Is she allowed to desire anything after what she had done? She had not thought past her destruction, thinking that would be the end of it.

 

“I desire to help people. I wish to become someone who can grow and become more. I wish to serve and protect those that need it. I want to make amends for what I have done.”

 

_“You can’t be a G.L.”_

_“Why not?”_

 

“I wish to be a Green Lantern.”

 

Ion chuckles, a clicking sound that vibrates around her.

 

“I want to be there for Razer. I want to make him… happy.” Aya herself is stunned by the strength of emotions in her core… the will to simply _live_. 

 

“Sounds as though you have much you want to do.”

 

“I do. But I can no longer do, that can I?” Aya studies the green constructs of her humanoid fingers and flexes them. She had sacrificed her life. It is clear that this place was the equivalent of the afterlife for her. She was merely a ghost.

 

“Mmmm I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

 

Aya looks up and is startled to see that there is something else among the swirling galaxy of green around her. Just beyond Ion’s fluke is a light more dazzling than a star. A white-hot nova that cuts through the verdant space and reaches for her.

 

“Well, well. It would seem that _it_ has decided to give you a second chance.”

 

“It?” Aya asks, stunned as she stretches a hand out towards it. It beckons her closer and she can feel the power radiating from it. Aya's finger tips are almost there, almost brushing the pristine rays. Her vision bursts into a blinding pop of white and Ion is alone.

 

“It is the light of life.”

**Author's Note:**

> Took some liberties with Ion here. I should really read more Green Lantern but Hal can be such an ass...  
> This was just written as a way for me to cope after getting no closure for this amazing series. Young Justice is getting a season 3, right? Well so should GL:TAS.


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